Features and Verdict

Summary

Our Score:

9

The main menu is the simplified one introduced with the GO LIVE 1000. The initial screen houses just six icons, rather than the confusing plethora of screens of previous devices. These then call up further menu layers. The Done button also takes you right back to the beginning rather than forcing you to wade back through your steps.

The 825 also uses TomTom’s latest system which doesn’t calculate routes on the fly, but instead comes with all possible routes pre-calculated. This, in theory, means lightning-fast route calculation, although in practice there’s often a sizeable wait whilst the live traffic information is downloaded. You can also choose an Eco Route option, which calculates the least petrol-consuming combination of roads.

The map screen hasn’t changed much, though. You still get a wealth of journey information at the bottom of the screen, although this is now arranged more aesthetically into three separate blocks. The traffic bar on the right is also more informative than earlier iterations. But this is mostly repackaging rather than a sea change. You still get the Advanced Lane Guidance full-screen graphic to help you find the right carriageway at complex junctions. Bluetooth is also available so you can partner the 825 with your mobile phone and use the sat-nav’s speaker and microphone as a hands-free kit.

Verdict

There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about TomTom’s GO LIVE 825. It bundles together features that the company already offered in other devices. In fact, it’s almost like a hybrid of the recent Via and previous GO LIVE models. But in a market where there’s an increasing trend towards 5in devices no longer being much of a premium, such as Mio’s Spirit 685, this is a hybrid which seems just about right. On the one hand, it is still well above an entry-level price. But the 825 is a 5in with maps for 45 European countries and its price of £229.99 is also £70 less than the UK-only TomTom GO 540 LIVE was at launch. So if you’ve coveted a fully featured TomTom LIVE device for a while but thought the cost was too high, this could be your chance to pick up these capabilities for a more reasonable sum.

Overall Score

9

Scores In Detail

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JohnS

January 5, 2012, 8:55 pm

I do not understand how this device gets 9/10. Card slot doesn't work, so I can't keep both US and Europe map on a same device (Swapping takes lot of time), MapShare doesn't work with MyTomTom, so user corrections are not available for this device (and latest map is really outdated)... overall very disappointed.

Hypertension

August 24, 2013, 4:35 pm

I would recommend taking a good map with you if you own one of these contraptions, you'll need to search for several street names close to the one you're heading for and hope it will recognise one. The display change from one page to the next is painfully slow. As mentioned in other posts the mount is hopeless, you resort to trying to type in your destination with it still attached to the windscreen which leaves both your arm and neck aching. During the 2 months I've owned the thing I have wasted time searching for a location that it refused to recognise, for example: Eltham Palace Road, Eltham entered, result nothing. Many times I simply revert to the map. I've lost count of the number of appointments I've been late for having struggled with it and given up. I was recently prompted by their program loaded onto my computer to update camera locations after which it took several days off before it decided to remember where any cameras were at all! It sometimes decides to switch its self on when the ignition is turned on but not every time. I was prompted to renew Live services on the display recently, I then received an email asking me to complete the purchase totalling £47.50. So in the 2 months I've struggled with the thing it's already gone out of date! How often are they going to want £47.50 from me? The sales pitch from Halfords was free maps!

Albert Visser

September 2, 2013, 2:56 pm

I could'nt agree more. What makes it worse is the plugging in of the power supply and removal every time you need to take it out. They have one product!!!! .I need a GPS and I think the mapping and live trafic seems to be better than the Garmin. But the frustration to work with the integrated mount is just too much. So the solution from the sales people? Why don't you buy the most expensive one? No sir I would just have to live without live traffic and go and buy me a nice design from Garmin. What realy frustrate me is the fact that you have 100's of people in TomTom designing a single product and they have the ability to totally screw up the common function on all GPS's

Marty

September 25, 2013, 7:11 am

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